Ammo at gun show

Also the scalpers have sheared all of panicked sheep that they could. Now they have compete more with each other to move product.

Gun shows have always been a great place to sell and buy ammunition. Just not typically a great place to buy at good prices. My experience lies primarily with the Wanenmacher's Tulsa Arms Show. I tend to stay away from smaller shows. I go to see the history and rare arms more so than to make purchases. But occasionally, I find something I really like and find it at a good price. When there’s no panic, you can usually find decent prices on powder because you can avoid the hazmat fees. But those are mostly offset by the price of admission. So the real advantage is having a huge selection of firearms related items and the ability to take them home that day.

I have a friend with a booth the Wanenmacher in Tulsa right now. I’m going to call him later and see what kind of prices he was seeing.

A few decades ago, the gun shows in Reno were awesome. the 2 I went to in Florida have been disappointing (to keep it polite). One thing I noticed the other day was a pawn shop that had a sign saying they were now buying ammo, not just guns..................Still in short supply around here, but the gun ranges have ammo and folks here rarely seem to reload - lots of nice brass for me.

Is your 1917 a Colt or S&W?

Given the empty shelves at many of the LGS in my area, the displays are the big guns shows are a bit of a marvel.

Unlike Spats' experience, the boxes I have seen were all shiny-new; if occasionally retro packaging. That is other than some of the obscure calibers from antiquity where the buyers expect to have to fork over $45 for the beat-up box of .263-17 whitherby minimum they have been looking for Unc' Jeb's old shooter.

Last Premier show in FW, old-style green box Remington 55gr .223 was anywhere from $15/20 to $35/20--go figure.
Ask me in a week after I get back from Dallas Market Hall.

FL-NC said:

Is your 1917 a Colt or S&W?

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He may be talking long gun. I'm thinking Enfield, AKA Eddystone, Remington, Winchester....

Pics of the M1917....or it didnt happen!

Your report comes as a pleasant surprise.

I attended a gun show in Richmond Va today and didn’t see anything that I considered normal (pre-early 2020)prices. There was new bulk ammo there, and that bounced around in the truck stuff too. I saw what I can only call “OK pricing for what’s going on right now”.

Reloading components on the other hand, basically non existent. What was there was 5-7x anything I’d call a normal price.

Tagged

I guess ammo sales and gunshows are regional and things are changing (for the better?). As I noted on another thread, four weeks ago I was at a gun show in Fredericksburg (only 45 minutes from Richmond, VA) and while there was not a lot of bulk ammo, there was a fair amount, but every single seller was asking ridiculous (or worse) prices. I noticed that outside of new gun owners buying some target and SD rounds, very, very little was moving.

Based on my almost daily observations, MOST bulk ammo is online and vendors are getting more and more inventory but still at super high prices that they want to pass on to buyers. But prices do seem to have peaked and are slowly declining. First supply catches up, then online bulk sellers start loading their pallets, then some lower prices a tad, then others follow suit because they have no choice. This all happens while all that ramped up inventory, including Remington going back in full production, continues to pile in. Eventually all the gougers/flippers walk away with dwindling prices. But don't worry, they'll be back.

Short of something outrageous happening at the federal level, or more massive protests and threats of civil unrest, I think ammo will become both widely available and reasonably priced by the end of 2021. But by "reasonable" I mean, at best, 50% above pre-2020 prices. I stacked fairly deep "last time", but not deep enough. I'll rectify that the next go-round.

BigBore44 said:

Gun shows have always been a great place to sell and buy ammunition. Just not typically a great place to buy at good prices. My experience lies primarily with the Wanenmacher's Tulsa Arms Show. I tend to stay away from smaller shows. I go to see the history and rare arms more so than to make purchases. But occasionally, I find something I really like and find it at a good price. When there’s no panic, you can usually find decent prices on powder because you can avoid the hazmat fees. But those are mostly offset by the price of admission. So the real advantage is having a huge selection of firearms related items and the ability to take them home that day.

I have a friend with a booth the Wanenmacher in Tulsa right now. I’m going to call him later and see what kind of prices he was seeing.

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Below is what I posted earlier on another thread about the Wanenmacher Show in Tulsa. And BTW, it was packed.

I did learn there is no shortage of ammo; only a shortage of reasonably priced ammo. In all my years of attending the show, I've never seen that much ammo. There were some ammo dealers with stacks of ammo but hundreds of tables with some portion of their table space dedicated to ammo. With few exceptions, nearly all of it was priced 200%-300% above prices of a year ago. I wanted to buy one box of 30-30 ammo for a family member. The $2 per round stuff disappeared quickly and left only the $4 per round and not much of it. I declined to pay that much.
Primers were worse; for example, small rifle primers typically sold in the recent past for $30 per 1,000 were tagged $200+. Most powder was $25-$30 per lb at shows a year or so ago, was marked $60-$100 today. It was scary how much impact the virus and the White House has had and will habve in the coming months.

wiscoaster said:

OK, for those that asked, here we go:

View attachment 991993

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Very nice. Are there any cartouche's stamped anywhere? Mine is devoid of any cartouche's and some idiot also beat in the letter on the nose so that tells me the stock is not the original "E" for Eddystone wood it left PA with. That could be one reason I paid a normal price for mine., a total lack of anything on the wood except for a very small eagle head profile stamp and a flaming bomb on the receiver.

Bill

The upside of very little and very expensive ammo, the general marksmanship level should improve OR, the downside is reduced marksmanship because of less shooting - I am hopeful for the former.

What is this "Gun Show" of which you speak??????

Actually, I'm jealous. Gun shows are pretty much dead here in New England. It will be nice once they start up again, whenever that might be........